Free My Love Betrayed by April Lynn Kihlstrom

if you were a man in disguise. After
all, everyone knows women are stupid. Enchanting but stupid!”
    I laughed at his teasing and countered, “Actually, my theory is that men belong in the kitchen.
After all, everyone knows the greatest chefs are
men.”
    “Yes, but-”
    “And they look so well in pretty clothes.”
    “Yes, but-”
    “And they clearly have a knack for handling
children,” I continued.
    “Yes, but-” Carlos began again.
    “Miss Steffee, if you can spare a moment, may I
speak with you?” The voice was sarcastic, and I
knew, even before I turned to look, that Charles
would be frowning.
    “Certainly, Mr. Whitford,” I said as calmly as I
could.

    Carlos quirked an eyebrow and, impatiently, I
shook my head at him. Charles, I was certain, had
missed none of this. He waited as I picked up my
purse and joined him in the hallway. He obviously
had no intention of talking here and he set a fast
pace toward a stairway.
    As we walked, his words came short and
clipped. “Enjoying yourself?”
    “Yes!” I tossed back defiantly.
    Charles paused, for a moment, startled. “Oh. I
gather the work is going well?”
    The men and I had done a terrific job, and I
knew it. But this stem Charles seemed almost a
stranger and I could only say, “Yes.”
    His office was one floor up and, when we
reached it, Charles held the door for me. The office
was small, and I sat down in the chair he indicated.
“They keep this for the visiting executives,” he
explained, as he took the only other chair. Then,
after a brief pause he asked, “Did you get back to
the hotel all right yesterday?”
    I hesitated, not knowing how to explain the
need I had had to run away from him. I think
perhaps he misunderstood, because he asked
urgently, “Is something wrong, Ellen?”
    I flushed. “No. It’s just that, well, I needed time
to think yesterday, so I went to the anthropological museum after work.”
    This time Charles seemed to understand. His
voice became impersonal as he said, “I see. Tell
me, how is the work going? You and Carlos
seemed in a very good mood.”
    “It’s beginning to fall into place. At least the
current stage is. Partly we were lucky. I’ve worked from Rick’s printouts before. But partly, Charles,
it’s as though Rick had all the pieces but couldn’t
put them together. In fact, we might have seen it
sooner, the guys and I, except that I never
expected Rick to make such careless errors. He did
things a freshman programmer wouldn’t even
pull!”

    Charles nodded gravely. “I gather he had his
mind on other things. Actually, your news makes
it harder for me to tell you mine. Ellen, I suggested
to the head office that they transfer you down here
for the duration of this project. Today I got word
back. The answer is no. They expect to have
someone else down here in a week or ten days.
They would, however, like you to stay on until
then.”
    “That’s not fair,” I said evenly.
    “I know, but—”
    “Carlos is a good man. Competent. Familiar
with the project. Familiar with the people. Why
hasn’t he been put in charge?” I demanded quietly.
    Charles looked at me for a moment, then sighed
and picked up a pen. “All right. I’ll try again. What
are his credentials again?”
    I told him again. Charles was impressed and
asked several questions. Finally he said in a
vaguely amused voice, “I’ll pass this information
on, Ellen, but don’t be surprised if nothing comes
of it.”
    I nodded. I hadn’t expected promises. Nor
would I have been surprised if Charles had said
even less. Disappointed, but not surprised. As
Charles wrote a few more words, I studied his bent
head and felt my throat tighten. In any other circumstances, I would have known how to
respond to Charles. But if these had been other
circumstances, if Rick had not been arrested and
Charles had not been involved, I probably never
would have met him, I realized.

    At that